
Glass. 
Book. 



I 



/ 

All 



DEUVE&ED ON 



THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1820, 



BEFORE tHS 



CINCINNATI AND REVOLUTION 



BV 

FRANCIS D. dUASH, Esa. 

d UEMSiR OP TBI ROrOLVTDUt SOCISTt 



W. p. YOUNG AND SON, PRINT£Rtf, 

1820. 



£'ZS6> 






J 



ORATION. 

Time exercises the same influence over great 
events, which artificial opacity does upon the sun. 
It mellows their light, and enables the contemplative 
observer to take a more steadfast view, without 
being dazzled or deceived by the glare of their bril- 
liancy . It is only after a lapse of time, when conse- 
quences are developed, and principles tried by prac- 
tice, that we can safely exult in the magnificence of 
a scene, or lawfully shudder at the danger it invol- 
ved. In the storm, which produced such events, 
the faculties are lost in confusion, and even the soft 
agitations of the ensuing calm bedim discovery's 
bright eye, and give instability to the conclusions 
of reason. But the danger of receding too far from 
the origin of events, is, that their magnitude may be 
lost in the crepuscular obscurity of distance, and 
their heaven-born influence fall but faintly on the 
heart, or " feebly man the soul." To awaken the 
feeling of patriotism, which, in the halcyon days of 
peace, is apt to sleep in its embers, and to wake 
from the shade of time the slumbering genius of a 
nation, were national celebrations instituted. Long 
have they been the poet's sweetest song, the histo- 
rian's most pleasing theme. What but the wild 
war-note of the Drui<3, could have infused that 



4 

exalted spirit of self-devotion into the bosom of 
Caractacus, which bad the all-conquering Eagle of 
Rome, to pause on the confines of Britain, and 
tremble for its safety ? What but a sacred regard 
for illustrious events, cpuld have electrified all 
Greece, when Herodotus read the books of his 
history to the assembled nation ? — When he recited 
how the virtue of his country triumphed over the 
countless hosts of Persia ? — How the almost naked 
arm of valour had stretched across the pass of Ther- 
mopylae, and stayed the impetuous torrent that was 
fast rolling on to desolation, giving to Greece a 
breathing time to erect the rampart, and to fortify 
the citadel, where infant liberty sat trembling ? 
Can the American people, upon whom the blessings 
of Heaven, like its own dews upon their land, have 
been long descending to give purity and vigour to 
their growth ; whose country is as rich as it is ex- 
tended ; whose government, laws and customs, are 
as free as the danger of popular faction will admit ; 
hear unmoved the praises of their benefactors ? Has 
uncharitable indifference grown over your feelings, 
like the rank weeds and ivy, around the columns 
of long forgotten grandeur? Or does memory 
still awaken those noblest of feelings, which are 
cradled in the heart ? We have a constitution fairly 
engrossed, and easy to be vmderstood ; but that 
alone can never form an arch over the rapid gulf 
of time, sufficiently strong to defy the discord of its 



elements. Our country is still in a probationary 
state, and requires the every day habit of virtue, to 
secure happiness. Because we are free, we have 
not obtained an elysium, where our indolence is to 
enjoy uninterrupted repose, and our selfishness to 
find an eternal reward. That constitution which 
we so much admire, is to be defended, not only 
from the violence of invasion, but also from the si- 
lent celerity of decay and corruption. To effect this 
desirable object, requires an intimate acquaintance 
with the events of our revolution, and an undimi- 
nished regard for the characters and principles of 
the men who achieved it. From their very tombs 
there arises a light, which, if followed, will lead to 
national aggrandizement, to individual happiness, 
" To hold high converse with such illustrious dead,'' 
cannot fail to keep alive some latent spark of ad- 
miration, which in the eventful hour of national 
distress, may be kindled by the agitations of paity, 
or the hot breath of war, into the unextinguishable 
blaze of patriotism. The mind arises from the con- 
templation of the trials, sufferings, and triumphs of 
our revolutionary heroes, inspired with a portion 
of their unrivalled virtues, as the oracles of old 
arose from the sacred tripod, filled with the councils 
and inspirations of their Delphic deities. 

It is one of the peculiarly honourable traits in 
the character of our ancestors, that they never were 
slaves. They lived and died, free as the air " thai 



6 

winnowed fragrance round their smiling land/' firm 
as the texture of the soil they cultivated, to the 
principles of freedom and self-government. It was 
not the weight of their chains, that awoke them to 
a sense of their ignominy. It was not the re-action 
from present sufferings, so grievous as to make 
man cease to covet the booii of existence, and " grief 
herself forget to mpurn," which kindled them into 
rage. They did not rise up, like the degraded 
people of Constantinople, to shake off an oppres- 
sion which had lasted till nothing w^as left worth 
having. They asked an easy gift, the privileges 
and immunities of loyal British subjects. When 
denied, tliey foresaw, that though themselves should 
escape, oppression would fall with tenfold weight 
upon posterity, and they generously resolved to 
interpose their sacred persons, between the violence 
of its disappointed rage, and the helpless innocency 
of their offspring. ]Vor was it a wild ambitious 
wish of independence, without regard to its conse- 
quences, that gave birth to the American revolution. 
Long might we have remained unconscious of our 
strength, by resting upon the arm of Britain, and 
found our sweetest repose in pillowing our heads 
on her bosom ; but the wild dreams of monopoly 
and internal taxation, had distempered the minds 
of the English ministry ; and our ancestors, when 
they found they must resist, they waited not to be 
Iranipled upon. At the commencement of the 



revolution, the hopes of America were nearly lost 
in the gloom of doubt and uncertainty which brood- 
ed over our land. Our countrymen stood riveted 
to one spot, anxiously gazing upon the waters of 
the Atlantic, to discover the reflection from the light 
of reconciliation, which tuey hoped would soon 
dawn in the east. Loyalty had bound a wreath 
of poppies around their brows, which " steeped 
their senses in forgetful ness," and they wandered 
about the insulted home of their fathers, like the 
unbodied spirits around the stream of Lethe, un- 
coinscious of their powers, till necessity broke the 
spell, and called their energies into active being. 
Even then they cast back an anxious look upon the 
fair fields, where peace and plenty had long sported 
within their view ; and paused on the craggy rock, 
till the voice of liberty, like the arm of Mentor, 
propelled them from the summit, and conducted 
them in triumph over the stormy waves of revolu- 
tion. Bat prior to that happy period, they had 
much to suffer. War, which is an incalculable 
evil abstractedly, is doubly aggravated, when it 
rages in the heart of a country. Innumerable are 
the instances of nations, who have borne victory 
perched on their standards, to seat her on the ruins 
of some distant metropolis ; who, when the flood 
of invasion has rolled back upon their own habita- 
tions, have not only lost the honours plundered 
from devastated states, but also resigned those which 



they derived from a long line of illustrious an-^ 
cestry. It was the misfortune of our country to 
become the seat of war. The reports of her bat- 
tles were never read from the official documents of 
her generals, nor the communications of corres- 
ponding secretaries — they were echoed along our 
coast, from the roar of the cannon's mouth, and 
recorded in our memories by the deep wounds they 
inflicted. The image of tranquillity was banished 
from the view of the Americans. No sound was 
to be heard, but " war's loud alarms," or the " yell 
of the savage which awakened the sleep of the cra- 
dle" — no light arose, save that which was reflected 
from the blaze of their dwellings, and told the 
dreadful tale, that if their families had escaped the 
danger of conflagration, they had not a home w^here 
they might compose their troubled spirits. The 
only union of the states, was the bond of their 
common suffering ; their only trust in Him, who 
never deserts the faithful, who as he once led his 
chosen people from the task-masters of Egypt, was 
able to carry his American Israel through the waves 
and wilderness of revolution, and to place them in 
the Canaan of peace and independence. 

On the establishment of American independence, 
the sovereigns of Europe, who felt their thrones 
totter, and saw the circle of prerogative contract, 
gazed with wonder and astonishment ; but consoled 
themselves with the delusive hope, that the Ameri- 



c^ns, like mutinous mariners, would soon produce 
a shipwreck, and then live by devouring each other. 
But thanks to the Almighty, we have survived, 
once more to fight the battles of our country, and 
to convince the world, that the spirit of the revolu- 
tion does not sleep with the remains of its authors, 
but still lives and animates our being. Here let us 
pause to pay a merited respect to the fair daughters 
of Columbia ; who renounced with a smile, the joys 
and all the treasures of the old world, and preferred 
the liberty of the new, though bathed in tears. And 
yet to celebrate their virtues, without wounding 
their delicacy, would require " a genius that had 
angelic wings, and lived on manna." 

The war of 1812, bears in many respects a strong 
similarity to that of the revolution. Commenced 
under the most unfavourable auspices, at a time 
when the minds of our countrymen were scarce 
half made up, when doubt as to its practicability 
on the one hand, and a want of proper feeling on 
the other, hung dead weight upon the car of war. 
At this awful crisis, our infant navy was launched 
upon the ocean, to contend single handed and alone, 
with a nation, whose nautical prowess had triumph- 
ed over the finest equipments of France, Holland 
and Spain. Freed from all adjacent war, the English 
navy was at full liberty to roll her thunders over 
our devoted habitations. In addition to this, the 
phantom had almost become a fatal belief, that Nep- 



10 

tune had committed his trident to her keeping ; and 
required of other nations the homage of bowing to 
her, as the mistress of tlie ocean. Under such cir- 
cumstances, ambition could have nothing to expect,, 
when so little was left to l^pe. Happy ! thrice 
happy ! for our nation, the first naval storm she 
encountered, cleared the atmosphere, banished the 
clouds of prejudice, and convinced our gallant 
commanders, that though their number was too 
small to wrest the sceptre from England's grasp, 
their merit was sufficiently great to dispel the magic 
of its touch. Invigorated by success, they left 
their native shore, and went to invite the Indian and 
Pacific oceans to witness the valour of their deeds. 
At their return, they found the Lakes and the At- 
lantic bearing similar testimony to the skill and cou- 
rage of the American navy, and saw through the 
veil of futurity, the recording angel of fame, sancti- 
fying its name to posterity. Nor was our country 
compelled to blush for her new made soldiers. Her 
military officers were unexpectedly called from the 
civil, and political occupations of the day, where 
their talents and industry were engaged in weaving 
civic garlands to encircle the pillars of jurisprudence^ 
or to decorate the hall of legislation. Dissimilar 
indeed was their occupation, when the voice of their 
country summoned them to buckle on the a^gis of 
Jove, and to contend with the Titans of Europe- 
Unaccustomed to the « pomp and circumstance of 



11 

war," the American officers had to learn the lesson 
of wisdom from the volume of their own errors and 
misfortunes. How different was the situation of 
the armies with whom they had to contend. Fresh 
from the great martial theatre of Europe, where they 
had performed a distinguished part in war's great 
tragedy, they came flushed with the hope of finding 
laurels in abundance, along the shores of the lakes, 
or on the banks of the Mississippi. But soon in- 
deed, did many of Britain's most renowned cham- 
pions find, tliat the cypress and the elm furnished a 
more suitable shade, as they waved in solemn si- 
lence over their low-laid heads. Victory at first 
flattered their hopes, but when they would finally 
grasp her, she shrunk from their arms, like the spirit 
of Anchises from the embrace of ^neas, leaving 
them /'pale statues of expectancy." Still, however, 
they hoped to sport with impunity over the unprac- 
tised soldiery of our country. But the light of 
New Orleans dispelled the visions of hope, and 
they shrunk back from its glare hke troubled ghosts, 
who wander abroad in the dark hour of midnio-ht 
but retreat to their cells in haste, at the moment of 
returning day. 

These are the undoubted merits of our country- 
men, but there is equal glory in triumphing over 
national antipathy. National antipathy is a national 
curse. It denies to virtue its excellence, and takes 
from guilt its crime. It is the vile policy adopted 



12 

for centuries by the sovereigns of Europe, to chain 
their subjects to the chariot of war, and drag them 
reluctantly over the plains of the earth. What 
greater c.bsurdity exists, than that which national 
antipathy engenders ? Not to rely with confidence 
upon our own energies, and virtue, until we have 
refuted the claim of our opponents to both : not to 
boast of our courage, until we are convinced that 
our enemies are cowards. To Great Britain we 
owe much. From the fountains of lier political 
writers, have been drawn those waters of wisdom, 
which have sustained and invigorated our rulers in 
the arduous task of government. From the roll of 
her parliamentary acts, and from the enlightened 
decrees of many of her venerable judges, have we 
derived those sound maxims of law, which regulate 
the affairs of our state, and guard the rights of man. 
But to the galaxy of iier scholars, we owe an incal- 
culable national debt. How has their light stretch- 
ed across the Atlantic, and educated the young 
mind of our country ? How has it given a warmth 
and animation to existence in the very bustle of ac- 
tive life, refined our manners, exalted our charac- 
ters, and chased away the gloom from the lonely 
retreat of the student, till in the heavenly cell of 
contemplation, he unconsciously pours forth the 
raptures of delight, and forgets for a time, that the 
subject of his praises is the native of another coun- 
try, So should America forget her antipathy and 



13 

practise to the nations of the globe, the magnani- 
mous policy, " enemies in war, in peace friends." 

The formation of national character, upon pro- 
per principles, is the surest indication of a nation's 
happiness. Let politicians amuse the world, as much 
as they offend each other, by their favourite sys- 
tems; let them praise the division, or concentration 
of power; let them string together the endless bless- 
ings flowing from a balance of power, or from the 
existence of distinct, independent orders of govern- 
ment; still we must believe, that the happiness or 
misery of a nation, the fame or degradation of a 
country, ultimately depends upon the character and 
manners of the people. Society itself is the sub* 
stratum of government. 

" Whatever secondary props may rise 
From politics, to build the public peace, 
The basis is the manners of the land." 

Can you suppose, if liberty was permitted to 
visit the Asiatic world, or any country, where the 
natives slept so sound in servitude as not even to 
dream of freedom, that they would acknowledge 
her divinity, or pay her worship? Would Egypt, 
Syria, or Palmyra, rise from their degradation? 
No, they have become insensible to the darkness of 
servitude, and are unfit for the light of liberty. Still 
would the Arab train his steed for plunder, and cite 
his title from nature to prey upon the products of 
other countries, as a compensation for the baiTen- 



14 

ii^ss of his own. Still would the inhabitant of 
Asia Minor, once so famed, thank the gods for the 
happiness of his fate, as he sunk in the indulgence 
of all his licentious passions. Even the modern 
Greek would saunter with stupid indifference over 
the ruins of the Areopagus, without feeling a spark 
of that celestial flame which once glowed in the 
bosoms of his countrymen, like their own celebrated 
war-fire, with unextinguishable fierceness, when the 
ordinary means of extinction were applied. After 
all her praises, liberty, though she smiles like a god- 
dess, feels like a mortal — and, when once banished 
from a country, will seldom or never return to 
bless that nation, whose gratitude is thus shewn. 

The existence of national literature is essentially 
necessary to the formation of national character. 
Of what avail is it, to exult in the emancipation of 
body, and yield, without a sigh, the empire of mind! 
The people who are engaged in the bustle of life, 
and the business of selfishness, have not time nor 
inclination to divert their attention. Our political 
planet must be observed in its rise and progi^ess, 
by the learned men of our country, who, like the 
intelligence supposed by the ancients to inhabit the 
stany region, are appointed to keep it in its orbit 
without impingement, and prevent its flying from 
tlie perehelium of light, to the opposite region 
of darkness. They are our country's safeguard, 
and sentinels, who mubt sound the ^^ alarum bell,-' 



15 

and wake her drowsy faculties, lest " fate surprise 
her nodding." American writers would develoi^e 
the resources of America, and teach their interest to 
the people. They would tell them that the prac- 
tices and policy of European countries, did not suit 
the genius of their republic. They would enlight- 
en, and therefore do away with those honest preju- 
dices of tlie people, as they have been called abroad, 
which are nothing but a tax, paid by their ignorance 
to tlie policy of their rulers. They would decree 
banishment to those deceptions of government which 
have been sanctified with the name of pious frauds, 
and are in reality nothing but a sop thrown to tlic 
people, to lull them to sleep, when their rights are 
to be roughly handled. Their influence would give 
permanency to our freedom, which, as it resembles 
the Hesperian fruit, in that it is the fairest in the 
garden of life, will be guarded by the sleepless dra- 
gons, intelligence and virtue. Under your fostering 
care, the literature of America, must in time, pour 
forth her treasures, to eclipse those of Peru and 
Mexico. Our enchanted delvers in science and 
literature, shall sigh amidst their unfinished labours, 
but cheered by the vision of their country's praise*, 
will still strike on in the glimmering mine of hope. 
Our rivers and forests shall be animated by the 
presence of their Naiads and Dryads— our valleys 
be watered from the Castalian fount : and from our 



16 

mountains the lute of Apollo will fill the air with 
its melody, like 

" Cherubic songs, that nightly 
From neighbouring hills, 
Aerial music send." 

The fonnation of laws and national institutions 
consonant with the genius of our government, is 
another security for its continuance. The mind of 
America is still young and ductile. Unfettered by 
inveterate customs, and unencumbered by the weight 
of laws and usages, whose only merit is their having 
grown old in the service of mischief, it is at liberty 
to choose for itself. If we are wise in their adop- 
tion, and firm in their support, they will constitute 
the greatest ornament of our nation in their pros- 
perity ; and when time and corruption shall convert 
their nature or separate their interest, will tower^ 
like the pyramids of Egypt, above the surrounding 
pile of ruins, and inspire the mind of the distant 
traveller, as if they had been built for eternity. 

In a free government like ours, the two great 
dangers to be apprehended, are popular faction, 
which leads to sedition ; and state ambition, which 
leads to separation. Even great Rome herself sunk 
with all her grandeur, under the violence of faction. 
From the time that faction in the days of Marius, 
had obliterated every republican sentiment and feel- 
ing, Rome, though she underwent incessant changes, 
never again became a republic. When the minds 



1^ 

of the people are phrenzied, and their passions armed 
for usurpation, they enter the den of the furies, 
where they become fascinated with the infliction of 
torture. Here they appoint some ambitious dema- 
gogue their leader, then rush back to society to 
celebrate the odious rites of Alecto. The first ob- 
ject of such a leader, is to remove the most enlight- 
ened and best men in the community, whose loss 
their country must too soon deplore. When these 
revolving lights are put out, the coast is left in mid- 
night darkness, and predatory villains are invited to 
prey upon the wreck of others' hopes. The es- 
tablished orders of society, the rights of property, 
and the sacred regard of person, the majesty of 
things public and private, things sacred and profane, 
are levelled in one undistinguished ruin. Nor can 
the populace prevent these consequences, if they 
wished. They have resigned their rights, their 
power, and themselves, to their leaders, who never 
feel secure, till they have composed them to eternal 
rest. Should the people even rise up like mutinous 
soldiers, and put to death one leader, or banish 
another, still would others spring into their places. 
The impulse of ambition would silence the dictates 
of prudence. Witness the French revolution, 
when the crown was snatched from the head that 
rolled at the foot of the executioner, and the robe 
of power was fearlessly ^vorn, though dripping with 
the blood of its previous proprietors. In such a 



18 

state of things, all confidence and security are ut- 
terly annihilated. Tliosewho would one day decree 
to Aristides the ostracism, and drug Socrates with 
deadly hemlock, would, on the next, praise the 
politics of the one, or preach the morality of the 
other. Nor can we forget that the scaffold which 
was stained with the blood of royal Louis, was 
afterwards di^enched with that of Roland, Danton 
and Robespierre. From the constitution and nature 
of things, it could not be otherwise ; for there is 
about as much probability that popular rage will 
produce a settled order of free government, as that 
the Sirocco wind will convert one of the burning 
sand banks of Arabia, into a flourishing garden. 

The danger of state ambition is no less great. 
This was the ruin of Greece. Athens and Sparta 
Imd alternately ruled so despotically the Amphyc- 
tionic council, that the smaller states of the con- 
federacy, hated them more than those whom they 
empliatically termed barbarians. This jealousy so 
inflamed their minds, that all their combined efforts 
failed, and many were willing, like Etolia, to wear 
chains themselves, in order to fetter them upon their 
hated superiors. But why look so far back? Is it 
not fresh in the minds of all, how the great confe- 
deracy of Europe in 1794, to defend their govern- 
ment, laws and religion from innovation, was at 
first made cumbrous, and afterwards ineffectual, by 
the revival of the ancient jealousies, between the 



1« 

Electorates of Germany, the house of Austria, and 
the Prussian monarcliy. Then urobe that wonderful 
Corsican, who lighted tiie independence of nations, 
that the image of liis own gloiy mignt be more 
brilliantly illuminated. Having seized upon the 
throne of the ancient kings of France, he com- 
menced a career of splendour, which attracted the 
admiration, and therefore secured the support, of his 
countrymen. Henceforth the domination of the 
world became the purlieu of his ambition — nor was 
he at first disappointed. Kingdoms were the prize 
of his labours; princes were his captives; crowns 
mere family presents; Sweden atrophy to his gene- 
ral; the house of Austria compelled to receive him 
as a son; and Italy awarded as his nuptial gift. 
Union, which stopped his career, might have pre- 
vented its commencement What then has the Uni- 
ted States to expect from the recent appearances of 
jealousy and disunion ? Can they have a govern- 
ment more free, or would they be happy under one 
less so ? If we trifle away our happiness, an age of 
blood-shed and misery will probably repay our 
folly. Woe to any generation, in which a change 
of government is to be effected, as it is, under the 
most favourable circumstances, but an iron age. 
Since then it is our duty, so should it be our delight, 
to cherish the constitution whilst it lives, and to 
contend for its remains, that they may be entombed 
in our hearts. Should we suffer these feelings of 



20 

regard to slumber, we may bid them farewell for- 
ever; for their fate will resemble that of the lonely 
travellei', benumbed in the frost-bound plains of 
Siberia, who sits him down to sleep, but wakes no 

more. Nature, as well as policy, cries aloud for 

union. Commerce, which refmes the manners, en- 
larges the sphere of taste, and rescues a nation from 
the monotonous uniformity of barbarism, resides 
on the sea-coast. Agnculture, which holds incessant 
communion with nature and its God, and redeems 
a nation from the luxurious vices, the calculatino; 
perfidy and the mercenary idolatry of excessive com- 
merce, has erected her verdant altars in the interior. 
Thus are the refined inhabitant of the Atlantic, 
and the honest native of the forest knit together. 
Do not our mountains, which run from north to 
SDuth, bind us in indissoluble union, like the sacred 
chain in nature which laiks all her jarring elemenst 
in peace ? Do not our rivers rise in one state and 
run into another, receiving the tributary streams of 
both, and fertilizing with their waters, as rich as 
those of the Nile, the meadows of all through which 
they hold their majestic course, without distinction 
or regard to local prejudices. Union is the pulse 
of national existence — to stop it would be fatal. It 
is the heart of our political body, through which 
must circulate those streams of life and health, which 
give vigour to the limbs, animation to the mind, and 
keep the frame itself in beauteous order. If united. 



21 

long may the genius of Columbia hold her seat 
amid the rocky grandeur and mountainous magni- 
ficence of our country, and smile upon the combined 
efforts of the world. Nor will she desert her airy 
and sublime mansion, till her presence becomes 
odious to the people of America. 

It remains for the Americans to prove, whether 
Liberty is a resident on earth, or only a visitant from 
Heaven — whether man can be free, and yet happy. 
If we look through the pages of history, we would 
almost be induced to believe, that freedom is fitted 
only to beings of purer elements, of nobler mould. 
Where is the liberty of Greece, the land of heroism, 
philosophy, poetry and eloquence ? Buried in the 
dark caves of Turkish despotism. Where is that of 
Rome, the world's great empress ? Tied to the 
footstool of superstition, and striped to the thongs 
of bigotry. If we look to Italy, now the seat of 
intrigue ; to distressed Liguria ; to divided Venice ; 
to the desolated mountains of Helvetia, once happy 
and free ; to Poland, where his misfortunes, like 
death, " canonized and sanctified" the name of the 
brave Kosciusko ; to Holland, wliere the altar of 
liberty was broken, and a golden statue to avarice 
erected on its ruins ; to France, where the rage of 
popular faction, fatigued with the commission of 
crime, sought peace, and laid down, lamb-like, in 
the cold, damp shade, of military tyranny ; what 
are we to believe ? That liberty only sheds a tran- 



22 

sient gieam of light upon mankind, to render the 
gloom of her absence, more palpable. Let us how- 
ever not despair, 

"All things we know must decay — 

The deep-found actions that we lay, 

Time ploughs them up, and not a trace remains y 

We build with what we deem eternal rock ; 

A distant age asks where the fabric stood, 

And in the dust, sifted, and search'd in vain, 

The undiscoverable secret sleeps." 

liCt US detain Liberty, though we cannot keep her 
forever — Let us cherish tie divine inhabitant, that 
she might not return too soon to the courts above, 
with a story that will arm the hosts of Heaven 
against us— that she had blessings for us, but that 
we were not prepared to receive them ; that she 
could not find among us a resting place ; but that, 
like the dove after the deluge, she was scarce fa- 
voured with the top of some friendly mountam, lor 
a melancholy moment. 

FRIENDS AND FELLOIV-CITIZENS: 
The joyful celebration of this day would be pol- 
luted with ingratitude, could we pass, unnoticed and 
unsung, the name and the virtues of Washington. 
When ^neas was lost in doubt, about the war 
with Turnus, Cytherea displayed a sign in the open 
air ; the lightning flashed, the thunder roared, and 
the clangour of the Tuscan trumpet rattled through 
the skies in a serene quarter of the Heavens ; there- 
by indicating victory and triumph. What light 



23 

arose to the view of Washington, at which he 
might kindle the torch of hope ? He knew tlie dis- 
tressed situation of his country ; he knew how feeble 
were her means, of working the great work of na« 
tional independence. — he foresaw, that in case of 
failure, the best blood of his country would deluge 
the scaffold ; that the Hectors of America would 
be tied to the wheels of malignant vengeance and 
their lifeless corses, dragged around the tomb of 
the English Patroclus. Yet did his godlike courage 
never forsake him. In the midnight hour of our 
nation's distress, his sainted soul rose, like the 
master-spirit of the storm, and arrested its violence. 
At his voice, the tempest forgot to rave, and the 
demon of war, appalled by his image, sunk dismay- 
ed upon its crimson throne, locked in the arms of 
silence. Not only as a great warrior^ does Wash- 
ington merit our praises. Revolution, tumult and 
war, are tlie prolific parents of heroes, who stand 
as thick in the pages of history, as their own sol- 
diers in the ranks. To his immutable virtues, we 
owe eternal obligation. His triumphs, unlike those 
of European princes and generals, never robbed liis 
nation of their happiness to gild their vanity — never 
left them the empty consolations of fame, for the 
substantial loss of wealth, character and friends. 
The victory he gloried in winning, contained every 
civil and political blessing under its wing, which 
has since been shed on our happy land. If we 



24^ 

follow him to the elective chair of state, to whicli 
he was raised by the affection and gratitude of 
America, there shall we behold the completion 
of the circle of his virtues — there shall we behold 
that purity and firmness of mind, which, form the 
links in that bright chain which connects the last 
pangs of expiring existence, with the first raptures of 
immortality. From that exalted station he had the 
magnanimity to descend, and follow the mild light 
of virtue and his own disposition to the tranquil 
shade of private life. Here we behold him, like the 
resplendent orb of day, in his evening's declension, 
though shorn of the brightness and intensity of his 
meridian beams, reflecting a more mellowed and 
not less pleasing light. But let us pause !— to pro- 
ceed to the contemplation of his final setting, would 
revive the recollection of that more than Cimerian 
darkness, which spread for a time its dreadful pall, 
over the prostrate sons of our afflicted country. 
Let us turn to congratulate those of his brave 
companions, who shared in his toils, and rejoiced 
in his triumphs ; and having breasted the flood of 
war, and braved the battle's stomi, still survive to 
adorn society by their virtues, to instruct the ri- 
sing generation in patriotism, and to expel fiom all 
by their presence, that insidious indifference, which 
would pollute the sanctity of the soul. Long may 
the gratitude, and esteem of our country, grow 
around your characters, with wild luxuriance — 



25 

shed their selectest fragrance around the trunk of 
life, and preserve an unfading bloom, to deck your 
monuments " which shall rise amid the fame of fu- 
ture years." 

Since our last anniversary, we have to lament 
the death of several distinguished members of the 
Revolution Society. No more will this sacred 
temple witness the fervour of their devotion in the 
cause of liberty. No more will our festive board 
be crowned with the dignity of their presence. In 
the death of the lamented Simons, our state mourns 
the loss of the statesman, the patriot and the sol- 
dier ; our city, that of an eminent and zealous 
advocate of its dearest rights. He has marched to 
join the troop of angels above, but has left his ex- 
ample behind : 

<' Too soon for us he sought his native sky, 
And soar'd impervious to the mortal eye ; 
Like some clear planet shadow'd from our sight; 
Leaving behind long tracts of lucid light." 

Our remaining hope, is, that the Independence 
and Union of America, may long afford incentives 

to the rising generation to emulate such virtues to 

rival such fame. Our only prayer, that our coun- 
try may be deserving of these blessings — that the 
voice of her exultation may ascend with the praises 
of her God, and Independence o'er this day 
preside — 

" Till nature herself, the vandal torch shall raise, 
And the vast alcove of creation blaze." 






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